Degrassi presidential election, 2018
The Degrassi presidential election of 2018 will be the 3rd annual presidential election, held in 2018. Contrary to the previous year, all 593 students were obligated to vote in the election. Principal Moreno stated it was to avoid the close result from the previous year and the controversial protest. However, Moreno's decision spiked controversy from parents, who said that the kids' priority is "to learn" and not "to vote", demanding that he reverse his decision. Moreno reiterated that "having another protest was not worth it, and as such, the decision of the President should be more popular." Despite this, many students did not attend that day and the turnout therefore lowered. In the end, 85.72% of students had voted, others stating "vacation" or "sickness" as a cause of absence. Additionally, some votes were considered "invalid" and others were reported to be "trashed" as a boycott of force voting. Nonetheless, 26% more students voted in this election and no protests were caused in the aftermath. Candidates Candidates who did not round the internally selected top two were never revealed, as Principal Moreno only announced the two nominees. Contrast to the previous year, the nominees consisted of male and female, and grades 8 and 9. Once again, Tim Hughes held the title for "novelty nominee" succeeding Hernandez's nomination; Stauffer on the other hand, held the serious title. Grade 8 * Ali Stauffer – Stauffer, who served in the previous year as losing nominee Nicki Henderson's running mate, stated that she desired to "give a good administration" following her past year experience, confirming her run.a ** Cathie Roberson – It was later confirmed by Stauffer that she selected Roberson as her running mate, stating that "Cathie served a great term of vice presidency last year, showing her political side."a Grade 9 * Tim Hughes – Hughes stated that he wanted to "modernize the institution", confirming his intention to run.aaa ** Scott Huntera Ruled out candidates * Chris Stewart – Principal Moreno stated that all past Presidents would not be able to run for fairness reasons.aa Stewart also later stated that he would not run in an election as "the result is never justified."a * Erik Collins – First President Collins expressed his interest in running, however Prinicpal Moreno disallowed him to do so due to already serving as a President.aa * Nicki Henderson – Former nominee Henderson stated that she would think of running if the new Principal made the election system "more fair".aa However, Henderson later confirmed that she would not run due to the controversies from the previous election, calling her last statement "a misunderstanding."aaa * Sonja Hernandez – Second President Hernandez had stated her intentions of running for Presidency.aaaa However, she later stated that she would ultimately not run due to "focusing on other things."aa Campaigning Principal Moreno decided to switch up the campaigning format contrast to Mr. Fitzgerald's system in the past two years. The campaigning process took place at the gymnasium with each nominee campaigning in front of all grades, which in previous years was not the case for other candidates' grade. Additionally, respective debates with Stauffer/Hughes, Roberson/Hunter took place before the ballots opened for voting. Results